<!DOCTYPE html>
<html>
<head>
<meta charset="UTF-8">
<title>How to Romance Your Bro by thewrinkleintime</title>
<style type="text/css">

body { background-color: #ffffff; }
.CI {
text-align:center;
margin-top:0px;
margin-bottom:0px;
padding:0px;
}
.center   {text-align: center;}
.cover    {text-align: center;}
.full     {width: 100%; }
.quarter  {width: 25%; }
.smcap    {font-variant: small-caps;}
.u        {text-decoration: underline;}
.bold     {font-weight: bold;}
</style>
</head>
<body>
<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/24092713">How to Romance Your Bro</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/thewrinkleintime/pseuds/thewrinkleintime'>thewrinkleintime</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Check Please! (Webcomic)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>M/M</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-05-09</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-05-09</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-02 22:47:19</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Teen And Up Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>1,354</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/24092713</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/thewrinkleintime/pseuds/thewrinkleintime</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>“Platonic kisses are a thing, you know,” Ransom says, defensively, then, turning to Holster: “Shitty explained this once, you were there.”</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Adam "Holster" Birkholtz/Justin "Ransom" Oluransi</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>13</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>153</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>How to Romance Your Bro</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>Inspired by what might be my favorite tweet of all time: https://twitter.com/iamjackboot/status/979518134209171462?lang=en</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>The Haus is loud and tightly packed and Ransom is thinking about the biology test he has in the morning when Anna, the cute girl who has been chatting with him and Holster asks, “So how long have you two been together?”</p><p>“What?” Ransom asks, startled, at the same time that Holster says: “Two years.” </p><p> </p><p>**</p><p> </p><p>The first time Ransom and Holster go on a date, they’re in their sophomore year. It’s October, and they’ve been sharing a room for three months but it feels like they’ve known each other for years. </p><p>Holster has a reservation at a somewhat fancy but extremely busy restaurant on the river, and has just finished putting on a nice button-up when his phone buzzes. Ransom leans over a stack of bio textbooks to read the text. </p><p>“Shit, man. Sarah says she can’t make it, something about a family emergency.” </p><p>Holster groans. “Those reservations were non-refundable!” He’s about to start unbuttoning his dress shirt (a light green pinstripe, because Ransom said the color made his eyes even more blue), when Ransom sits up excitedly.</p><p>“I’ll go with you.”</p><p>“As my date?” Holster asks, skeptical.</p><p>“Yeah, let me just put something nicer on, bro.”</p><p> </p><p>Dinner is nice. It’s fancier than the joints Ransom and Holster normally frequent, and it’s pricier too, but Holster ignores Ransom’s attempt to pay and gives his card to the waiter. </p><p>They walk back along the river, bumping shoulders occasionally. Holster sneaks a glance at Ransom and thinks, not for the first time, that he is beautiful. Ransom would chirp him to hell if he said that out loud, but it’s true. He’s handsome, sure, but he’s also beautiful. </p><p>When they get back to the Haus Ransom gives him a peck on the cheek and says, “That was fun, we should do it again.”</p><p> </p><p>**</p><p> </p><p>“Wait, what did you think that was, if not a date?” Holster asks, amused.</p><p>“A bro-date!”</p><p>“What the fuck is a bro-date?”</p><p>“You know, when you go on a date with your bro.”</p><p>“Oh my god.” Holster drops his forehead onto the table. It’s kind of gross but he’s having a crisis here. “How are you the smart one?”</p><p> </p><p>**</p><p> </p><p>Holster doesn’t see Sarah again. Shitty had been the one to set them up; Sarah was in the art crowd with Lardo and Shitty thought they’d be a good match. He wasn’t wrong, they do get along, but they decide they’re better off as friends. </p><p> </p><p>There are more dates with Ransom though. </p><p>The dates become a way to get away from the Haus. When Ransom’s been chugging too much Red Bull, or Holster’s had a few too many tense Skype calls with his parents about his choices for life after Samwell, one of them will make a plan. </p><p>Ransom and Holster were already pretty close, maybe weirdly close. Adding dates doesn’t change much. They still snuggle on the gross couch, and share a bunk when it gets cold, and generally live out of each other’s pockets.</p><p>After the third date Holster kisses Ransom, short and closed-mouthed. Ransom huffs out a surprised laugh but kisses back.</p><p>After the fourth date, Ransom kisses Holster, open-mouthed but unhurried. </p><p>It’s not just the kisses, which at first are limited to their dates. At some point, Holster notices that their level of physical affection, already pretty high, increases even more. Whatever they’re doing during their dates has started spilling over into the rest of their lives. Ransom will put his hand on Holster’s back, low and possessive, but seemingly without noticing. Holster sits a little closer when they’re side by side at the diner. They hold hands, tentatively at first, but then more deliberately, one night during a hockey rom-com. By the end Holster finds himself not wanting to let go. </p><p>When Holster wakes up one morning to find Ransom looking back at him (the ghosts had been touching his butt the previous night so he had bunked with Holster) from just a few inches away, his heart stutters. Ransom kisses him good morning and they both taste like morning breath but it’s the perfect way to wake up. </p><p> </p><p>**</p><p> </p><p>“Platonic kisses are a thing, you know,” Ransom says, defensively, then, turning to Holster: “Shitty explained this once, you were there.”</p><p><br/>
<br/>
</p><p>**</p><p> </p><p>The first time Holster and Ransom hook up it’s not planned. They came back from one of their dates to find an empty Haus, a rarity these days. Ransom had been giving Holster heated looks all evening, and Holster thinks they should maybe talk about this, but by some silent agreement they both head up to their room, moving a little faster than normal. </p><p>Holster has Ransom pressed against the door, lips hovering over his collarbone and hands resting on his belt. Holster pulls at the buckle; “Yes,” Ransom says, and then it’s a flurry of movement. </p><p>It’s a little rushed but it’s so, so good. </p><p>“Dude, we should have been doing that ages ago,” Ransom says afterwards.</p><p><br/>
<br/>
</p><p>**</p><p> </p><p>“And you’d had sex how many times by this point?” Anna asks. </p><p>“It was hooking up, not sex. Sex is something else.”</p><p>“How many times?” Anna asks again.</p><p>“Uh, like two or three times a week, for a while?” Ransom is looking less and less sure as the conversation goes on. </p><p>“Yeah, that’s not technically a bromance.” Anna is having way too much fun. </p><p> </p><p>**</p><p> </p><p>Ransom’s working on a spreadsheet. He’s trying to decide where to move after Samwell, and turned to his trusty Excel for the answer. He’s weighted different categories, and is explaining the resulting matrix to Holster.</p><p>“You’ve only included places I’ve mentioned,” Holster says, somewhat surprised.</p><p>“I just assumed we would be living together still,” Ransom says, frowning. “I wasn’t wrong, was I?”</p><p>“No, no, you’re all good,” Holster says, reassuring Ransom with a kiss on the head. “What’s this column mean?”</p><p>“I’ve created this formula based on average travel times to Boston and Rhode Island, taking into account traffic and construction delays in the summer. . .”</p><p> </p><p>**</p><p> </p><p>Ransom starts to protest again, weakly, but Anna interjects. “Have you dated anyone else in the past two years?”</p><p>“Well, no. But that doesn’t mean Holster and I are dating!” Ransom gestures with the hand currently holding his beer, and it nearly sloshes over the side. “He’s just my best friend and since we were hooking up I didn’t need to find someone else to get laid, and I didn’t have time to start a relationship with classes and hockey. Plus Holster and I do everything together, it would be weird to try and add someone else.”</p><p>“Add someone else to your relationship?”</p><p>“Fuck.” Ransom’s eyes go wide. “Holtzy, we’re in a relationship?”</p><p>“Yeah bro, we are.”</p><p>A choking sort of cough breaks the silence and Holster looks over to find Shitty just a few feet away. He wonders how long he’s been standing there.</p><p>“Oh my god, I need to email my thesis advisor right now.” Shitty leaves his solo cup on the counter and bolts up the stairs.</p><p>“What was that about?” Ransom asks.</p><p>“No idea,” Holster says, putting an arm around Ransom. </p><p> </p><p>**</p><p> </p><p>“We just got engaged,” Ransom tells their server. He’s been telling literally everyone he sees the good news for the past couple of days. Holster finds it both embarrassing and endearing. </p><p>“Congrats, how long have you two been together?” Ransom can tell she’s just being polite but he’s too happy to care.</p><p>“Four years,” Ransom says, proudly. </p><p>“Six years,” Holster says at the same time.</p><p>“I told you, it doesn’t count if I didn’t know we were dating!” Ransom protests. </p><p>“But you agree that we were dating,” Holster counters. </p><p>By the time their food arrives they’ve moved on to arguing about whether or not Shitty used them as a case study in his thesis.</p><p>“How do you know there weren’t other bros who accidentally blurred the lines of homoeroticism and friendship in the context of college athletics?” Ransom asks.</p><p>“That is not the winning argument you think it is.” </p><p>Holster can’t help but smile though. He’s going to spend the rest of his life having this argument, and at the moment he can’t think of anything better. </p><p><br/>
<br/>
</p>
  </div></div>
</body>
</html>